Chapter 122: Surviving the Jianghu Depends Entirely on Big Sister

"Fine, take the call. These people are indeed a threat; I am not so arrogant as to think I can eliminate everyone."

Facing Qian Jiang's advice, Zhou Yi nodded without hesitation.

He is currently on fire, having already drained the early potential of the Taiwan market right at the start of the album sales thanks to the lawsuit storm, but this era is not one where he can simply lie flat after releasing a single album.

Promotion must be done, and they must find new ways to do it.

He has not yet appeared on mainland variety shows; handing his first one over to "Happy Camp," a top-five ratings variety show in the country, is not a loss.

At the very least, in this era where entertainment means are scarce, "Happy Camp" is truly one of the few promotional ace cards in mainland variety shows.

If he really wanted to lie flat, he would have to fight his way all the way to the arrival of the internet era, waiting until his status could no longer be shaken before doing so.

"There is one more thing. The signing event in the Imperial Capital is ending now; the next stop is Shanghai. There are eight sessions in Shanghai as well. Afterwards, we will proceed along Hangzhou, Nanchang, Jiujiang, and your hometown Shangrao."

"Tourism bureaus across Gansu Province will cooperate with your album signing events for promotion. I must say, the advertisement you gave for your hometown's scenery in the 'Jiangnan' music video was indeed hard enough."

After giving Zhou Yi a thumbs-up and praising him, Qian Jiang outlined the upcoming signing event route for Zhou Yi: "You can rest for these two days; in three days we will depart for Shanghai."

"If things go smoothly, after the signing events reach Changsha, you can go to record for 'Happy Camp' right after finishing the signings."

"Then your signing events will also move to Hong Kong, where you can participate in the rehearsal for Christina Aguilera's concert."

"Additionally, you can communicate with Christina Aguilera about what song to sing at her Hong Kong Coliseum concert. My suggestion is to best sing a new song from your album; a Hong Kong Coliseum-level concert will bring huge promotion for you once reported in the papers."

"Especially since you are a surprise guest; it will not be announced to the outside world beforehand that you will come."

After speaking at length, Qian Jiang, now somewhat dry-mouthed, finally stopped and drank some water: "Additionally, the venues for your concerts in the Imperial Capital, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanchang, and the locations in Suzhou and Hangzhou have all been approved."

"Currently, the company has tentatively set your concert to begin on July 1st next year, which coincides with summer vacation."

"After finishing the mainland concerts, the final stop will be Hong Kong. The company is currently fighting for your qualification to hold a concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum; there is hope you might get to perform there."

Looking at his fully packed schedule starting from July next year, although his scalp tingled a bit, Zhou Yi still nodded.

"Oh, by the way, Jackie Chan's 'Rush Hour 2' has entered post-production. According to the news I heard, the release date should be around July or August."

"So the company plans to officially release your English single around mid-September to see how the response is in the European and American markets."

Before leaving, Qian Jiang also brought Zhou Yi some good news.

Zhou Yi nodded, and after watching Qian Jiang leave, he immediately sank into the sofa, looked at the list of potential rivals, and smiled.

Qian Jiang was worrying too early.

If the popularity of 'Meteor Garden' drove Dai Peini and Harlem Yu to compete against him, then Wang Lihong and Jay Chou this year are formally taking the stage with their own truly recognizable representative works.

Wang Lihong's 'The One', Jay Chou's 'Double Sticks'.

Although in terms of popularity 'Jiangnan' still holds firm, it is hard to say how much market these two will snatch from him in the second half of this year.

Especially Wang Lihong's 'The One'.

This song is not limited to the young crowd like 'Double Sticks' in the mainland; it can be called a hit at the mass pop level.

"The more I think about it, the more opponents there seem to be..."

Zhou Yi, holding the signing event route arrangement in his hand, scratched his head.

On the mainland side, Han Hong has officially entered her prime starting this year; when Na Ying got married and announced a temporary retirement from the entertainment industry shortly after, Han Hong smoothly took over the baton, becoming the new number one sister of the mainland music scene.

Oh, and there is also a young man named Hu Yanbin who became famous thanks to the soundtrack of 'I Love Music'.

Eason Chan also started to exert force officially this year, rising to fame in the Hong Kong and Taiwan regions as well as the GD Province area of the mainland; 'King of Karaoke' and 'Bicycle' are his representative works from this stage.

Plus SHE, who is about to start becoming popular, Jay Chou and Wang Lihong who are formally entering their personal peaks, and the guy from Sea Butterfly who is currently doing behind-the-scenes work writing songs for others and hasn't officially debuted yet, Lin Junjie...

Turning his gaze to the European and American markets, the competition is even fiercer.

In the 2001 European and American music scene, besides the still highly popular Britney Spears, a woman named Xia Qila will descend upon the European and American music scene at the end of the year with invincible posture, selling over fifteen million albums and breaking various records.

Plus the Canadian little witch Avril Lavigne, who is gathering strength...

"The prologue to the Twilight of the Gods..."

Zhou Yi, biting an apple, sighed with a 'tsk tsk', but his phone suddenly rang—

"Zhou Yi, someone is digging up dirt on you at the bar street. This is the news my inside contact at 'Apple Daily' just leaked to me."

Qian Jiang, who had just left not long ago, spoke with some urgency: "Do you remember which bar street you used to frequent?"

"You still have an inside contact at 'Apple Daily'?" Zhou Yi noticed his manager's wording immediately and was quite surprised.

"After all, I came from Hong Kong."

"Just send me the location."

"Fine, better safe than sorry. You don't need to worry about this matter; leave it to me."

As the manager, Qian Jiang took on this cleanup job, but after arriving at the address Zhou Yi gave and clarifying the situation, he was somewhat amused and helpless—

He didn't even need to act; several boss ladies in the bar street who still had their charm directly joined hands and chased away the paparazzi from 'Apple Daily' and 'Next Magazine' who were digging for dirt.

"I told you early on there was no need to go over there."

After dinner, knowing this result, Zhou Yi lazily held a toothpick in his mouth and let out a burp without any image.

Qian Jiang was very puzzled: "How did you do that?"

"They are all my good sisters."

"... Just how many good sisters do you actually have?"

"That's not important, but since you know, it seems I also need to contact them, treat them to a meal, just to thank them."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yi skillfully pulled out his contact list and began editing a text message, leaving Qian Jiang at the bar street staring at the lit screen with a head full of question marks.

Wait, is being handsome really so unreasonable???

Qian Jiang, who had never experienced this feeling, silently recalled his past forty-plus years of life and looked up at the sky in speechlessness.

The next day, Huang Bo, who was sleeping at home, suddenly received a phone call notification from his bar buddy, the manager—

"Zhou Yi is coming to play tonight. Don't leak the news. Adjust your vocal state as much as possible tonight; don't let the boss make a fool of himself."

—?!

This sudden news almost made Huang Bo drop his phone off the bed; instantly sober, he hurriedly replied: "Okay, okay, no problem, no problem."

PS: Off to continue the overtime shift, aiming to finish by midnight and head home to sleep!

PS2: Back to normal rest tomorrow, feeling great.

(End of this chapter)